Motorsport | Superbikes

Sykes wins red-flagged Monza race

Tom Sykes was the only winner at Monza on Sunday as the rain caused the cancellation of Race One and Race Two to be stopped at the halfway mark.

With the day's first race called off after just three laps, and no winner or points awarded, the World Superbike weekend at Monza rested entirely on Sunday's second race.

Race Two got off to a delayed start as after the two warm-up laps, with the grid lined up, Marco Melandri put up his hand. The Italian's action were mimicked by others as the riders took a stand, expressing their dissatisfaction with the conditions.

The concern was that the riders felt it was too dry for wets and too wet for slicks, therefore a safety issue.

Ten minutes later the riders ventured out for another warm-up lap on which pole sitter Sylvain Guintoli broke down. He was not able to get his bike restarted. Seconds later Michel Fabrizio also stopped out on track and couldn't get going.

The race therefore started with two riders less and Sykes effectively on pole position.

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He put it to good use, storming into the lead and away from the chasing pack. That pack started off as Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa and Melandri with the trio changing positions.

Eugene Laverty joined the fight and pulled off arguably the best overtaking move of the 16-lap race as he took Melandri and Biaggi in one corner to move up to second.

While the quartert fought over second place, joined by Leon Haslam who moved up to second, Sykes continued to build a lead and midway through the race was almost ten seconds up on his rivals.

As they crossed the line to finish lap eight, the halfway mark, with Sykes in the lead ahead of Haslam and Laverty the riders put up their hands, bringing out the red flags.

The race was called with Sykes as the winner and Haslam second, 9.7s adrif. Half points were awarded.